Conte: Fiorentina defeat was a 'wake-up call'

After six wins and a draw in their opening seven matches, champions Juve looked set to dominate the Serie A campaign, but they were beaten 4-2 in Florence on October 20. 

Juve went 2-0 ahead at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, only for their rivals to score four times in 15 second-half minutes.

Conte's side have won 16 and drawn the other two of their 18 top-flight fixtures since then, though, and sit 11 points clear at the top of the table as they bid to win a third straight Scudetto

And the coach believes Juve's defeat at Fiorentina represented an important point in their season. 

"Considering what happened afterwards, I ought to thank Fiorentina, seeing as since then we haven't put a foot wrong," Conte told Tuttosport ahead of their meeting at the Juventus Stadium on Sunday.

"Let's just say that game gave us the wake-up call we needed and now we are going at the right pace.

"That match was done and dusted, as we were dominating all over the field and had more chances to finish it off.

"Then the imponderable occurred, as we lost a game that we were dominating. In a nightmare 10 minutes we threw it all away and conceded goals that were very unusual for us to let in."

Sunday's clash is the first of three games between Juve and Fiorentina this month, as they will also meet over two legs in the UEFA Europa League last 16.

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